The Japs had earlier driven the Royal Navy from the Indian Ocean, taken Singapore and defeated USN and Royal Australian naval forces in the Battle of the Java Sea.
Oh, and the USSR was still on the brink of annihilation by the Nazis
The US Navy was still dominated by officers that were promoted more for their alcohol capacity than any actual competence. A bunch of them were killed off in the crucible of Guadalcanal. The Japanese constantly failed to press their advantage during 1942. By 1943 so many ships were coming off into the US Fleet that Japan had absolutely no chance to gain a conditional peace treaty. Of course they were to stiff necked too surrender and save their people the devastations that 1944 brought.
They call this a tactical win for japan, but didn’t also make the Japanese stop an invasion they had planned?
Also, it knocked 2 main carriers out of the Midway raid which could have turned the tide for them if they had been there. Without Coral Sea, Midway may have been a disaster for us.
The Dutch had a few ships in the mix there too.
In the Battle of the Coral Sea, TBD Devastator Torpedo planes helped sink the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō on 7 May, but failed to hit another carrier, the Shōkaku, the next day. At the Battle of Midway, 41 Devastators took off to sink the Japanese carriers. They were all shot down except for only 5 that made it back . Torpedo Squadron 8 from Carrier Hornet was completely wiped out except for one survivor, Ensign George Gay.